U.N. Security Council’s Libya Debate Interupted by Bomb Scare

April 17, 1986

UNITED NATIONS (AP) _ Australian Ambassador Richard A. Woolcott was the only speaker at the U.N. Security Council debate Wednesday to express some understanding for the U.S. military strike against Libya.

He agreed that there was substantial evidence of Libyan involvement in international terrorism, but expressed concern over what he said was an intensification of the cycle of violence in the Middle East.

For the second day of debate on the subjects of terrorism and the Libyan- American conflict, Libya had lined up its Arab, non-aligned and Soviet Bloc supporters to go before the Council to denounce the U.S. raid.

U.S. delegate Herbert Okun, deputy to U.S. Ambassador Vernon A. Walters, described the pro-Libyan speakers as the ″Charlie McCarthy brigade″ - referring to the wooden dummy used by the late Edgar Bergen, a ventriloquist who had been a popular radio, television and movie personality.

A bomb scare Wednesday forced the U.N. Security Council to interrupt its session for 15 minutes. Delegates evacuated the chamber while security guards conducted a search. They found nothing.

Francois Giuliani, spokesman for Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar, said a male caller telephoned U.N. headquarters to say there was a bomb in a briefcase somewhere in the Council chamber. ″He did not identify himself or say he belonged to any organization,″ Giuliani said.

Woolcott urged the Council to ″accept its responsibilties to promote a peaceful settlement.″ The Australian envoy suggested that Libya and the United States could bring the conflict to a speedy end by strictly observing a 1985 General Assembly resolution condemning terrorism and making binding commitments to refrain from using armed force.

Rajab Azzarouk, Libya’s top U.N. delegate, objected to Australia’s statement on a Libyan terrorist connection and told the Council, ″It is (U.S. President) Reagan who is the killer of children.″

Before the start of Wednesday’s meeting, Azzarouk told a reporter that he was seeking a Council resolution that would call for a halt to U.S. raids and ask the U.N. secretary-general to intervene in the conflict.

Azzarouk said he also hoped the council would condemn Tuesday’s predawn air raid on Tripoli and Benghazi. But such a condemnatory resolution undoubtedly would be vetoed by the United States - even if it succeeded in gaining the nine votes required for adoption.

Azzarouk said Libya, which is not a Security Council member, was leaving it to the seven so-called nonaligned members of the Council to draft a resolution.